Star Trek parodies and pop culture references
Over the years, Star Trek's position as a cultural icon has resulted in many parodies of it on other television shows and movies. While some have been subtle tip-of-the-hat references, others have been complete copies, with the intention to reference Star Trek. Beavis and Butt-head In the 1995 episode "Dream On", of the television show Beavis and Butt-head, the main characters, Beavis and Butt-head, have a dream where they portray the roles of William T. Riker and Jean-Luc Picard, respectively. One line recalled from the episode, spoken by Butt-head was, "Number One, I order you to take a number two." Diagnosis: Murder On the television show Diagnosis: Murder, there have been at least two major parodies/major references to Star Trek. The first was in the episode "Alienated", in which case one of the main characters, "Jesse Travis", believes he was abducted by aliens. He is then pursued by a local top secret government agency official (played by George Takei) he is sure he is on to something. When he goes to a support group for people who have had encounters (led by a character played by Majel Barrett, also featuring a character played by Grace Lee Whitney), he meets another fanatical, who is sure the government is after the two of them (played by Walter Koenig) Also featured in the episode is Wil Wheaton, who plays the character of "Gary Barton". In the 1996 episode "Murder by the Book", after Jeri Ryan had joined the cast of Star Trek: Voyager, she played murder suspect Melissa Barnes. At the end of the episode, she is present at the marriage of a main character over the radio waves, to the characters husband in the navy serving aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which to get over static, the characters all scream loudly "ENTERPRISE!". Family Guy Family Guy is an animated show run on the Fox network, created by Seth MacFarlane. Because MacFarlane is a huge fan of Star Trek, this series often parodied the series. "I Never Met the Dead Man" and Uhura appear on Family Guy.]] :Captain's Log, Stardate 8169.7. The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|''Enterprise]] has just discovered a strange new planet in the Gamma Faloppia Star System. Mr. Sulu, ahead warp 9.'' In "I Never Met the Dead Man" (originally aired April 11, 1999), the character of Peter Griffin was watching Star Trek: The Original Series, which featured an overly excited James T. Kirk, whose exaggerated mannerisms ended with his pants ripping to reveal "Captain's Log" written on his underwear. When Peter's daughter, Meg, asked him to teach her how to drive, Peter told his daughter that he loved her, but he also loved Star Trek -- "and in all fairness, Star Trek came first. The family pet, a highly-intelligent, talking dog named Brian, then suggested that Peter may not be the best person to teach Meg how to drive, to which Peter proclaims that he would be the perfect teacher as he doesn't miss anything. He then makes the new observation, "Holy crap! Uhura's black?" "Emission Impossible" In "Emission Impossible," originally aired November 8, 2001, Majel Barrett supplies the computer voice of Stewie Griffin's Fantastic Voyage-esque craft. (For the record, this episode also featured the voice of Wallace Shawn.) "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," an episode of Family Guy originally unaired on the Fox network due to its perceived controversial content, had William Shatner (voice of Seth McFarlane) acting in the play "Fiddler on the Roof". He was using Kirk's mannerisms, which were again exaggerated. After delivering a hasty line of dialogue, he pauses and screams out "Khan!", just as Kirk did in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The scream is then heard a second time, outside the theatre. "Peter's Got Woods" Yet another episode, "Peter's Got Woods" (originally aired September 11, 2005), guest starred Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart reprising their roles as Worf, William T. Riker and Jean-Luc Picard, respectively. In their scene Picard leans over to Riker and asks him if he would join in a laugh if Picard said that Worf's forehead looks like a fanny. Riker responds that he will so Picard say it very loud eliciting a laugh from the entire bridge crew. Worf gets angry and tells Picard to "suck his ridges" and the scene ends. If this had actually happened it would have had to take place between 2365 and 2366 because it shows Wesley Crusher, in his gray uniform he only wore those two years, as a part of the bridge crew. Worf was referred to as "commander", however he would have been a lieutenant at the time. The conn and ops consoles were reversed in position (unless Wesley was manning ops for some reason). Also, the rank insignia were on the incorrect side of the uniforms. "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" In the direct-to-DVD "movie" Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story!, Rene Auberjonois supplied the voice of Odo in a scene which parodized Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In the scene, Stewie mentions his cousin, Quark Griffin, who is shown being harrassed by Odo, before Quark tells him to morph into a character with a personality. Futurama While some could argue that all of Futurama is a parody of Star Trek, this is epitomized in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". The episode featured the voice talents of all of the original cast, with the exception of DeForest Kelley, who has passed away, and James Doohan, who refused to be a part of the show. DeForest Kelley did appear in the episode, but did not speak. Doohan was replaced by Welshie, as he could not yodel. Star Trek guest performers who have provided voices on Futurama include, Sarah Silverman and Bumper Robinson. Galaxy Quest The entire movie is really a parody of Star Trek. It's about a group of actors who used to be on a Trek style TV show. They tour the country going to conventions when they are caught up in an actual galactic war, which pits a barbaric species against one that has modeled their entire culture off broadcasts of the old television series. The Muppet Show Pigs in space Pigs in space was a mixed parody of both Star Trek and old science fiction serials. It was a repeated skit on The Muppet Show and involved the adventures of a number of pigs on a space ship known as the USS Swinetrek. Robot Chicken Robot Chicken is a parody series on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim that features action figures instead of animated characters. In the very first episode aired, in a skit called "Bloopers in Space", a William Shatner/Captain Kirk figure arrives on a model of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] bridge via the turbolift. As he is exiting the lift, the doors shut close on his privates. The doors open again to show Kirk in excrutiating pain as he falls to his knees. The lift doors then close two more times on his head, and as Kirk continues grabbing his crotch and groaning in pain, a Leonard Nimoy/Spock figure steps up and begins laughing hysterically. The very first episode produced, however, featured a skit called "Two Kirks, a Khan, and a Pizza Place", in which Captain Kirk and Khan Noonien Singh ran a pizza joint with Growing Pains actor Kirk Cameron. While Cameron tosses some dough in the background, Khan is ringing up a customer at the cashir. Captain Kirk steps up beside Khan, bringing a soft drink for the customer and placing it on the counter. As Khan hands the customers their change, he accidently knocks over the drink Kirk just brought. Enraged, Kirk yells out "Khaaaan!" (an obvious parody of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). A second scream is heard as the customers run out of the pizza joint. Saturday Night Live The Last Voyage of the Enterprise SNL featured a Star Trek parody entitled "The Last Voyage of the Enterprise". It starred John Belushi as Captain Kirk, Chevy Chase as Spock, and Dan Aykroyd as Dr. McCoy. The Enterprise is pursued through space by a 20th Century automobile. A passenger from the vehicle (played by host Elliott Gould) boards the Enterprise and informs the actors that Star Trek has been cancelled. Khan and the health inspector Another parody was done in 1986 when William Shatner hosted. The Enterprise crew opens a restaurant which is threatened when Khan brings a health inspector to the retaurant, though Kirk resolves the situation by slipping the inspector a bribe. Shatner, of course, played Kirk, Kevin Nealon played Spock, Phil Hartman played McCoy, and Dana Carvey played Khan. Love Boat: The Next Generation Yet another was done in 1994, when Patrick Stewart hosted, in a skit called "Love Boat: The Next Generation" (parodizing both TNG and The Love Boat). Essentially, it involved the USS Enterprise-D crew running the love boat. Stewart, of course, played Captain Picard, Chris Farley played Riker, Rob Schneider played Data, Phil Hartman played Worf, and Tim Meadows played Geordi. Rescue 911 spoof Another semi-parody involved a spoof of Rescue 911 which was hosted by William Shatner at the time. Michael McKean played Patrick Stewart, filling in for Shatner and also feature a brief appearance by Tim Meadows as Geordi. Spaceballs The Mel Brooks film Spaceballs was a parody of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien. Several moments of Trek-ness stand out in particular. First, "Snotty" beams President Skroob about fifteen feet into the next room only to find he has beamed the president's head on backwards. The merchandising scene - which included Spaceballs: The Toilet Paper, Spaceballs: The Cereal, and Spaceballs: The Flame Thrower - was poking fun at the innumerable merchandising ventures made under the Trek brand, modeling its naming convention after Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In a later scene, Lonestar (the hero) grabs a guard's neck and unsuccessfully attempts to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch. In one scene, President Skroob considers the idea of being beamed to another area of his ship and says "What the hell, it works on Star Trek." Snotty, who was a parody of Scotty, accidentally beamed President Skroob's head on backwards. Snotty then apologizes in a very heavy Scottish accent for beaming Skroob's head on backwards, stating, "I'm sorry sir, there must have been a microconverter malfunction!" Later, Lonestar, the hero, attempts to do the Vulcan neck pinch unsuccessfully. The guard he's doing it to corrects him and he knocks the guard unconscious. Star Wreck Star Wreck is a Finnish Star Trek parody made by fans. Still, it's the best ST parody series to date. Star Wreck 1 was created in 1992 and was a 5 minute long animation. Then SW 2 was came out in '94. SW 1 thru 4 was only animations. But 5, 4 and a half and 6 was made by real men. SW 6 has came out recently and it's a 2 hour long film (longest and and the best (in all aspect)) to date. It stars Samuli Torssonen as Captain Pirk, also the creator and producer; Timo Vuorensol as Lt. Dwarf and also the director; Rudi Airist as Mr. Info. Althought the film is spoken in Finnish, there's English subtitle for it, so everyone can enjoy it. External Links Star Trek references at Wikipedia [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/ Galaxy Quest] at the Internet Movie Database Get A Life! The offical Star Wreck website Parodies